Higher Education for Development

Higher Education for Development

Higher Education for Development (HED) works in close partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and operates with the advice and counsel of the six major U.S. higher education associations to support the engagement of higher education in development issues worldwide.

HED manages innovative partnerships that join U.S. colleges and universities with institutions of higher learning in developing nations. In this way, we support and facilitate the engagement of U.S. higher education in global development.

HED’s leadership includes an advisory board comprised of representatives from the six major U.S. higher education associations.

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Through quarterly newsletters, Higher Education for Development (HED) shares the successes and lessons learned of its wide range of international higher education partnerships. These partnerships are funded primarily by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Department of State.

Before June 2012, when visually impaired students Sammy Luvonga and Silas Opanga attended classes at Kenyatta University (KU), they would bring a bulky manual brailler machine and expensive paper they purchased themselves. Today Sammy and Silas are among KU’s approximately 50 visually impaired students who have access to computers installed with special software called a screen reader.

Bilal Salman attended Al Quds College in Jordan, where he joined a program he says, “helps students create jobs instead of getting jobs.” The program, Community College Entrepreneurship: Integration to Incubation, began at AQC in January 2012 from a partnership between Al Quds College, Washtenaw Community College and William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan, both in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Getting a new product idea from the conceptualization phase to a physical model can be a slow and expensive process for entrepreneurs leading start-up companies as well as established businesses. Thanks to a U.S.-Morocco higher education collaboration project, Ecole Supérieure de Technologie d'Oujda faculty are learning to create prototypes fast to support entrepreneurship and business development.

The pastoralist communities of Kenya’s drylands face marginalization due to drought, climate change, and its effect on natural resources. To help these communities escape the cycle of food insecurity and poverty, Colorado State University partnered with the University of Nairobi through Higher Education for Development (HED) to establish the Center for Sustainable Dryland Ecosystems and Societies (CSDES). The project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development.

Higher Education for Development (HED), with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Department of State, brings together U.S. and host-country higher education institutions in partnerships that build institutional and human capacity in developing countries.

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The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Higher Education for Development (HED) have announced that five universities in the United States have been selected to partner with higher education institutions in five countries to promote gender equality and women’s leadership.

To combat deforestation in the Andean Amazon, four U.S. universities have been awarded funding by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) through Higher Education for Development (HED) to partner with South American universities to enhance local biodiversity conservation and sustainability.

Higher Education for Development (HED), with joint funding support from the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has announced two higher education partnerships focused on water management and renewable energy technologies in Tunisia’s agricultural and industrial sectors.

Higher Education for Development (HED), with funding support from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, today announced a three-year higher education partnership aimed at promoting sustainable manufacturing and economic growth in Latin America.

​Arizona State University and Yerevan State University (YSU) have partnered to develop YSU’s capacity to deliver women’s leadership education and enhance the quality of information regarding women’s leadership and gender issues available to students, faculty, and the local community in Armenia.

USAID

HED is supported through a cooperative agreement between the United States Agency for International Development and the American Council on Education. The information provided on this website is not official U.S. Government information and does not represent the views or positions of the U.S. Agency for International Development or the U.S. Government.

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About HED

​HIGHER EDUCATION FOR DEVELOPMENT® and HED and the Globe Device® are registered trademarks of the American Council on Education (ACE). They may not be used or reproduced without express, written permission from ACE.